Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) Part I Raj Jain Professor of CSE Washington University in Saint Louis Saint Louis, MO 63130 Jain@cse.wustl.edu These slides are available on-line at: http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/cse574-08/ 6-1
Overview IEEE 802.11 1. Features 2. MAC 3. Physical Layers 6-2
WiFi! Almost all wireless LANs now are IEEE 802.11 based! Competing technologies, e.g., HiperLAN can t compete on volume and cost! 802.11 is also known as WiFi = Wireless Fidelity! Fidelity = Compatibility between wireless equipment from different manufacturers! WiFi Alliance is a non-profit organization that does the compatibility testing (WiFi.org) 6-3
IEEE 802.11 Features! Original 802.11 was at 1 and 2 Mbps. Newer versions at 11 Mbps and 54 Mbps! Supports both Ad-hoc and base-stations! Spread Spectrum No licensing required. Three Phys: Direct Sequence, Frequency Hopping, 915-MHz, 2.4 GHz (Worldwide ISM), 5.2 GHz, and Diffused Infrared (850-900 nm) bands.! Supports multiple priorities! Supports time-critical and data traffic! Power management allows a node to doze off 6-4
North American Channels 2.4 GHz Band: Only 3 non-overlapping channels Channel 5 Channel 9 Channel 3 Channel 7 2400 Channel 1 Channel 6 Channel 11 2483.5 2402 2412 2422 2432 2442 2452 2462 2472 2482 5 GHz Band: 12 non-overlapping channels 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 5150 5180 5200 5220 5240 5260 5280 5300 5320 5350 149 153 157 161 5725 5745 5765 5785 5805 5825 6-5
IEEE 802.11 Physical Layers! Issued in four stages! First part in 1997: IEEE 802.11 " Includes MAC layer and three physical layer specifications " Two in 2.4-GHz band and one infrared " All operating at 1 and 2 Mbps! Two additional parts in 1999: " IEEE 802.11a-1999: 5-GHz band, 54 Mbps/20 MHz, OFDM " IEEE 802.11b-1999: 2.4 GHz band, 11 Mbps/20 MHz! Fourth part: " IEEE 802.11g-2003 : 2.4 GHz band, 54 Mbps/20 MHz, OFDM 6-6
Hidden Node Problem C A B A B C! A can hear B, B can hear C, but C cannot hear A.! C may start transmitting while A is also transmitting A and C can't detect collision.! Only the receiver can help avoid collisions 6-7
4-Way Handshake Access Point Ready to send Mobile Node Data Ack Clear to send 6-8
IEEE 802.11 MAC! Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA)! Listen before you talk. If the medium is busy, the transmitter backs off for a random period.! Avoids collision by sending a short message: Ready to send (RTS) RTS contains dest. address and duration of message. Tells everyone to backoff for the duration.! Destination sends: Clear to send (CTS) Other stations set their network allocation vector (NAV) and do not transmit for that duration! Can not detect collision Each packet is acked.! MAC level retransmission if not acked. 6-9
Busy DIFS PIFS SIFS IEEE 802.11 Priorities Contention Window Random Backoff Frame Carrier Sensed Time! Initial interframe space (IFS)! Highest priority frames, e.g., Acks, use short IFS (SIFS)! Medium priority time-critical frames use Point Coordination Function IFS (PIFS)! Asynchronous data frames use Distributed coordination function IFS (DIFS) 6-10
Time Critical Services Super Frame Contention-Free Contention Period Period PCF Access DCF Access Beacon Time! Timer critical services use Point Coordination Function! The point coordinator allows only one station to access! Coordinator sends a beacon frame to all stations. Then uses a polling frame to allow a particular station to have contention-free access! Contention Free Period (CFP) varies with the load. 6-11
IEEE 802.11 DCF Backoff! MAC works with a single FIFO Queue! Two variables: " Contention Window (CW) " Backoff count (BO)! BO is a pseudorandom integer in [0, CW]! Initially and after each successful transmission: CW = CW min! After each unsuccessful attempt CW = min{2cw+1, CW max }! The stations wait for BO. If another station starts transmitting, the waiting stations pause their backoff counter and restart it DIFS after the end of frame again. 6-12
DFS! Example: Slot Time = 1, CW = 5, DIFS=3, PIFS=2, SIFS=1, Backoff SIFS Ack Ack Station 1 Frame DIFS CWmin Station 2 Station 3 Station 4 Time Frame 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 6-13 Remaining Backoff DIFS CW min Frame
DFS: Example (Cont)! T=1 Station 2 wants to transmit but the media is busy! T=2 Stations 3 and 4 want to transmit but the media is busy! T=3 Station 1 finishes transmission.! T=4 Station 1 receives ack for its transmission (SIFS=1)! T=5 Medium becomes free! T=8 DIFS expires. Stations 2, 3, 4 draw backoff count between 0 and 5. The counts are 3, 1, 2! T=9 Station 3 starts transmitting. Station 2 and 4 pause backoff counter at 2 and 1 resp.! T=13 Station 3 finishes transmission! T=14 Station 3 receives Ack.! T=15 Medium becomes free! T=18 DIFS expires Stations 2 and 4 start their backoff counter! T=19 Station 4 starts transmitting 6-14
Summary 1. 802.11 uses Frequency hopping, Direct Sequence CDMA, OFDM 2. 802.11 PHYs: 802.11, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g 3. Allows both: Ad-Hoc vs Infrastructure-based 4. BSS, ESS, AP 5. 802.11 supports single FIFO Q. Uses SIFS, PIFS, DIFS 6-15
Homework 6! Two 802.11 stations get frames to transmit at time t=0. The 3 rd station has just finished transmitting a long packet at t=0. The transmission parameters are: Slot time=1, SIFS=1, DIFS=3, Cwmin=5, Cwmax=7. Assume that the pseudo-random number generated are 1, 3. The frame size is 3 slots. Draw a transmission diagram. How many slots before the two packets will get acknowledged assuming no new arrivals. 6-16